The Abbott government will resist the urging of the United Nations’s climate change body to extend emissions reductions targets beyond 2020, despite warnings more drastic action will be needed if global efforts to mitigate climate change are not accelerated.

The third report from the working group of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says the task of keeping global warming at less than two degrees above pre-industrial temperatures by 2100 is getting tougher, with a 40 per cent to 70 per cent cut in greenhouse emissions needed by 2050 compared with 2010 levels.

“Without additional efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions beyond those in place today, emissions growth is expected to persist, driven by growth in global population and economic activities," the report reads.

Australia’s Climate Change Authority recommended in March that the national target of reducing emissions by 5 per cent of 2000 levels by 2020 be nearly quadrupled to 19 per cent.

But Environment Minister
Greg Hunt
said the government was focused on real action in the short term, and those making projections out to 2050 were losing focus.

“We’ll obviously consider the period beyond 2020, as we’ve always said, in the lead-up to the late 2015 international conference," Mr Hunt said.

Making the changes that would achieve the 2-degree target would require a reduction in global growth, the IPCC conceded.

Between 1 per cent to 4 per cent of global gross domestic product would have to be sacrificed in 2030, 2 per cent to 6 per cent in 2050, and 3 per cent to 11 per cent in 2100.

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But Climate Council chief executive John Connor said the idea that tackling climate change would require ­significant sacrifices in economic growth had been exaggerated.

“It’s the old story that this has been a much-distorted area of reporting. It’s about slowing growth for one or two years to achieve the same outcome [in the long term]," Mr Connor said.

Too many carbon permits

In its appraisal of different forms of carbon abatement employed by governments around the world, the IPCC says cap and trade schemes similar to that currently in effect in Australia have suffered through over-generous supply of carbon permits.

The global financial crisis and reduced energy demand was to blame, but such policies can be cost-effective if implemented well, the report said.

The IPCC gave tentative ­endorsement to government-funded programs that incentivise private sector action on abatement.

“In many countries, the private sector plays central roles in the processes that lead to emissions as well as to mitigation," the report says. “Within appropriate enabling environments, the private sector, along with the public sector, can play an important role in financing mitigation."

The Minerals Council welcomed the IPCC report, and its recognition that carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology could be used in conjunction with fossil fuels.

“CCS is happening today. There are 21 large-scale CCS projects in operation or construction – a 50 per cent increase since 2011," Minerals Council chief executive Brendan Pearson said.

“The bottom line is that without coal, hundreds of millions of people in developing nations will be denied access to energy at lowest cost."